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April 17, 2013

First Clearing Launches Tools to Fight Cybercrime, Other Risks

Education, tech tools address cyber risk

First Clearing on Tuesday launched a set of services to help firm owners mitigate various business risks before they encountered challenges.

The new offerings are based on the “four pillars” of risk management, including educational support, consulting, events and technology.

Caiazzo (left) said First Clearing’s efforts “address the immediate and real risk of cybercrime and information security. That’s front-page news for the whole world. The more information sharing we can do, the more quickly we can come to grips with that as an industry and as a country.”

To educate firm owners on risk management, First Clearing’s new offerings incorporate programs from Wells Fargo Advisors like the College of Risk and events like the annual Compliance Roundtable, which features speakers from self-regulatory organizations, the federal government and the private sector. The College of Risk “was started two years ago to educate managers at all levels on enterprise risk management,” Caiazzo said.

As part of its focus on consulting, First Clearing will release in the next several weeks the first in a series of white papers, “Getting Serious About Cyber Risk: An Introduction to Protecting Your Firm,” which will be available on the First Clearing website. Other topics in the series include operational risk-management and regulatory compliance.

Among the tech tools is a sales supervision tool, an online tool that provides firms with the ability to conduct business oversight, Caiazzo said. There are also pre-trade tools that allow owners to set rules to govern their business and email surveillance tools.

“We recognize that there’s need for support like this, especially in the independent broker community, so we made the decision to define this suite of services,” John Peluso, Jr., president of First Clearing, said in a statement. “We believe it’s important to share our insights with the industry at large through an ongoing white paper series and through public and private speaking appearances. The point is to help independent broker-dealers not just survive these times but grow and thrive.”

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